You Are (not) My Legacy
by ASingleMind
Summary: Timeline AU. Two children abandoned by those who were intended to help them find themselves with a dramatically different destiny. With no obvious safe refuge and only each other to trust, can they make their way through Skyland with enough strength to free their mother?
1. Chapter 1

**Timeline AU idea that popped into my head as I was editing the English translation onto the comic. The pirates act a lot more like renegades in the book. They're quite a bit more aggressive and since the rating was increased (compared to the show) we were able to get some more mature themes out of them. At least, the beginnings of some...still, it's better than nothing.**

**Not sure how far I'll go with this. **

_"Because we're in a Sphere patrol ship, genius!" Lena reminded her brother as yellow lights streaked passed them menacingly. They shot into the skyline ahead of them, their ultimate destination obscured by the billowing clouds that surrounded them. "Aarrgh, I can't contact that ship..." she muttered behind him._

_ Mahad didn't doubt the accuracy of the pirate pilots. Shots continued to fly past their ship, each edging closer to the short wing components that protruded from either side. The firing traced an outline of the patroller as their assailants formed into a small squadron behind them. Warning shots, he could only assume._

_ The signal of approaching ships pulsed with a constant urgency on the left side of the console. The source of the noise was closest to the weapon controls. It was tempting. _

_ His practice with air fighting had always been limited by school regulations—they only needed them to fly competently, not be able to fight back—but there they were, fully functional and online. The radar's additional warning in centre view was bordering on incessant. Static whined from the communications behind him as his sister continued to fiddle with the dial. _

_ The triangle symbols increased twofold from the bottom as the formation grew dangerously close. In his periphery he could see more of the bulbous ships coming to pin him in._

_ "If I stick close to the big guy, maybe those pests will stop shooting as us!" he said doing his best to sound annoyed. _

_ Pulling the brakes the ship slowed, and with a gentle push to the side it began spinning in mid-air. The momentum had them rotating a few times before he pulled it straight. Braking harder the ship pulled to a near stop before shooting forward in the opposite direction as they nearly hit the pilots following them._

_ "Stop firing at us. We stole this patrol ship to get away from the Sphere..._we're not _your enemies!" Lena insisted over the radio._

_ "Guardians are no friends of mine." a man replied firmly. The vague Scottish accent seemed to make it more intimidating. The rolling r emphasized his irritation. _

_ Lena was visibly taken back. No amount of blind faith the child could muster could hide the man's disdain._

_ He flew by the belly of the warship almost following its curvature as he approached. Diving past the stained red undercoat he tried to find something to say. Something to mask the fear the deep crimson colour instilled._

_ "Are they for real? Do we look like Guardians?" he said. _

_ Lena didn't get the chance to remind him of their circumstances again. _

_ As he crossed the front of the ship, he realized that he had placed the ship directly in front of the turrets that jutted out from the underside of the tip. They promptly fired, one shot to each wing._

_ There was no recoil from the barrage. The patroller simply went limp in his hands, fuelled only by the momentum he had carried. It swerved to one side, and with one last push he begged it the other way._

_ The slowed to a casual knot speed as the Sphere patroller landed with a soft crash. There barely an explosion as it landed barely fifteen metres below where it was shot down. _

_ "That's one less Sphere ship for us to deal with. Let's head back to Puerto Angel. Call back the mosquitoes." he ordered. _

_ "Mayday, mayday, we are not your enemies! Please help!" the girl continued. He hadn't had a chance yet to shut off the com link. Lightly weighted steps drummed against the stairs just behind him._

_ "Shouldn't we rescue the survivors sir? That was a young girl's voice." the young boy, Cheng asked._

_ "It's obviously a Sphere trap."_

_ "She didn't sound like a Guardian to me." Cheng said. _

** Aye, they rarely do. **_The man thought, although he wouldn't voice it to the boy. The captain turned away from the wheel to address Cheng properly._

_ "Cortes, a squadron of Sphere ships is coming straight for us!" And there was the confirmation he needed. He silently thanked the blonde pirate at the controls below him. _

_ "See? It is a trap. Head West Wayan." he told Cheng, pushing his shoulder with two fingers to emphasis his point as he promptly turned back around._

_ "I hope you're right, otherwise we will have left a little girl, all alone on an icy block..." The boy had gotten surprisingly more tactful in recent months. Living with crafty rebels and finally being allowed onto the bridge seemed to be honing his sensibilities. Cortes would have been satisfied with it if the boy hadn't been using it to manipulative him, however gently, just then._

Bowing his head a moment, but not sighing as he might have in recent weeks, he resumed his stance.

"Cheng..." he said authoritatively. "You are not in any position to question my decisions. Return to your station."

The moments immediately after the landing were tense with dread. Anticipating the explosion that had inevitably concluded most of the simulations he had ever done, he let go of the controls. He reached around his seat towards his sister for one last time.

Throwing himself off the chair he wrapped himself around her frozen form and gripping her as tightly as his arms would allow, sent them both tumbling to the floor. There was a small grunt as they impacted the floor with the floor, his weight threatening to crush her as he prepared for the worst. There was a chance he could shield her from the front of the blast if it came from either side.

Heat emanated from the rear of the cabin. There was sparking outside of the confines. The propulsion had definitely been taken out, he thought. The inside hardware didn't seem to have suffered the same fate. The occasional notification of a calm ship hummed in the background as they waited.

"Mahad..." a small voice said. "You're crushing me..." she rasped. Realizing that they may have more time before they were blown apart than he thought, he shifted the bulk of his weight to the side.

_Sorry, _he thought to her. He didn't want their last moments to be an apology. His adjustment seemed to have been given her enough breathing room as she relaxed ever so slightly.

"I..." she said hesitantly.

"It's ok, Lena." he replied, trying his best to assure her. He could hear the faintest cracking in his voice.

"I love you, Mahad. You and mom, both of you."

"And I love you too, sis. Mom would be proud of us."

"For sure..." she trailed off as a wave of heat threatened to break the fragile moment. But it's approach seemed a feint as it never grew in the moments following. The siblings waited, holding their breaths and then releasing it only to draw it back in again as they feared their impending demise.

"Mahad, I think we might be ok." Lena said finally. Glancing up from his sister's strained expression, the room betrayed no sense of the surrounding danger. It was just as they had entered it, only tilted.

"I think you may be right." Slowly he pushed himself off the floor. His palms remained flat against the floor as he hovered over her. Gradually he straightened and leaned back on his legs kneeling beside her. She sat up as he relaxed.

"We should get out of here." he told her, projecting more confidence as he postured himself.

"Yeah." she said. He had already taken her arm as they stood up together. For a moment they looked at each other, a small moment of relief before they became conscious of their situation again.

Mahad pressed the button to open the sliding door to the holding cell behind the small bridge. Heat radiated through them as it slid open. The source was nowhere to be seen. He stepped around her to lead her out through the short hall.

He had been expecting a fire either in the room or just outside the vessel. It was beginning to seem like neither may be the case. There was no fire lapping at the exit of the ship, or from beneath their feet where he was fairly sure the cooling system was. It should have been broken in the crash.

The ship had furrowed itself into the bloc as it carved a short path in the landing. Any coolant left would be leaking out from beneath them. And with no chemical being channelled into the nodes controlling the engine output, there was a chance that the heat was accumulating in one of the projectors. But that was only if the secondary safeguards had somehow been damaged as well.

"We need to get away from the ship." he said. Immediately he regretted it as he could feel his sister's growing fear bearing down on his back. It would have been better to not have said anything at all, he grimaced.

Fortunately there was no protest from the exit hatch as it opened. They moved through as soon as it sheathed itself into the wall beside them.

The ship was embedded along the edge of the bloc, surrounded by tumultuous rolling hills of yellow clays. Ashy dust settled heavily over his shoes and pants as he approached the mound just a few feet behind the ship. It had been fortuitous that the ship had been propped up on side in the crash. A straight landing would have trapped them in the ship. The depression they stood in was fairly deep. The height of the surrounding mound higher than his sister, and just obscured his line of sight over it.

Grabbing two small dips in the surface as handholds, it felt dry and torrid against his skin sapping what moisture was left in his palms.

"I'll climb over and then pull you up." he said tersely as he ignored the heat that tried to scorch his hands. The rough terrain created by the crash made finding holds in the hill easy, and with a few broad movements he clambered over to the top. Glad to have his skin off the ground, he reached down for his sister to see her stiffly levitating herself off the lower platform.

"I had a little left from earlier..." she said as she touched down beside him.

"You got plenty of sun earlier didn't you?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't stay forever. And there's not as much light here with all these clouds." Lena explained.

"Then you should probably save what you have." he told her. She nodded her agreement and he could see some of her fear dispelling. She focused on him, relaxing her shoulders a little.

What warmth they could feel from the late afternoon sun wasn't anything like the inside of the ship. The light that made it through the surging cloud line reflected the earthy colours, casting a yellow glow over the scene.

There was a wide level plane just a few metres away from them over some more turbulent terrain. It was fairly small clearing, perhaps just enough a few patrol ships standing erect side by side. The right side ran the edge of the block, but he could see more natural elevations across from them.

Moving in the same manner as he had with the first hill, he climbed over the hills that separated them from glade. Lena let him pull her up over one, but quickly insisted on helping herself as she caught a sight of the skin on his hands. He bit his lip as he reluctantly let her climb over herself.

The surface of the tract wasn't as dusty as the crash site. The clay was flattened, and by what he could judge, a clear sign that the bloc was an underside piece. It seemed inhospitable to plant life, the barren earth a flat mix of brownish ambers.

"What are we going to do?" Lena asked softly.

"I...don't know." He wished he could have given her something more reassuring, but their situation seemed to growing more grim with every step. There was no clear way off the bloc without a ship, and he was doubting that their assailants would come to rescue a couple of 'Guardians' they shot down.

"Do you think you can fix the ship?" she asked, a small tremble creeping back into her voice. Turning towards the ship he was able to see the extent of the damage.

The grey panelling that plated the outside of the ship was dislodging from its frame. Sparks ran along the contours of the shifting metal. The components behind it were definitely suffering from a number of electrical issues. The amount of light seeping out from behind the framework made him think that a number of connections were most likely severed. Smoke began wafting out from the side of the ship opposite to them. It crept around to the back, escaping the same way they did.

He didn't want to go anywhere near it.

"Maybe. With some tools, which are back in the ship..." he started. He tried not look at her, but he found his gaze gravitating back towards her. The fear from earlier had crawled back into her features, accompanied by the ever slightest dimming of hope in her eyes. "But not on my own." he admitted. He could see her heart sink as her eyes fell to the ground for a moment.

"How are we going to get out of this? That ship was mom's hope for us..."

"It'll be ok. We'll figure something out." he told her as he began walking again. He didn't expect to find anything from exploring the bloc, but he felt like his growing despair might catch up with him if he stood still for too long. "Come on, let's look around."

***

**I thought this sounded alright so I decided to post it. I also kinda think its an interesting idea, although Skyland doesn't have enough world building to fully explore it. I'll do my best for as far as I go with this.**


	2. Chapter 2

Their exploration had been as fruitless as he had expected. The block was barren in its entirety. Not even a few blades of grass tried to struggle along its cracks.

With nothing left to see, he was beginning to succumb to hard feeling in the pit of his stomach. The hope their mother had tried to give them in sending them away was losing its meaning. They wouldn't be going anywhere now. And with no food or water they didn't have long to wait. The ship might have had supplies, but salvaging from it was an idea that grew more dangerous with each passing minute as the vessel slowly fell apart.

"I can't believe we were shot down by the people who were supposed to _help_ us. _Literally!_" he groaned as he absently kicked a small pebble off the edge of the block.

"You really think the Vector guy was a pirate?"

"What else could he be Lena? He lives on the outskirts of the Archipelago and he apparently can hide us from the Sphere. There aren't many people that fit that description."

Lena didn't reply to that. Instead she turned back towards the wreckage of the ship, now a small mound against the horizon. She gazed at it, unfocused until she spoke again.

"Do you think they might come back to get us?" his sister asked him. It was difficult, trying to help her while hiding his own concerns. She was expecting something certain from him, something that could assuage the cold feeling he imagined she had in her chest.

"Lena..." he began. He couldn't do it. He couldn't lie to her when he really needed to. There was just no clear way out of their circumstances, no easy solution. They were trapped in the wastelands of the archipelago, and the only people who knew where they were couldn't, or wouldn't help them.

"I mean, if they think we're Guardians they might want to capture us right? For information or something..." she said trying to sound hopeful. Her uncertainty made him feel worse.

"Probably not." he said flatly. He could see something welling her eyes, but before it could escape he gently grabbed her by the shoulders. "They would be here already if they wanted us. But it's alright Lena. There's still a chance that another ship will come by." she nodded numbly but didn't cry. He looked at her for a moment, staring into her eyes until she made eye contact with him and then let go.

"We'll head back to that clearing for now." he said. She didn't reply, only acknowledging it by following him as they began making their way towards the ship in the distance.

Just as the details of the ship began coming into view, he noticed something that wasn't there before. There were four dark objects between them and ship, and as he reached a higher point there was a forth standing between themselves and the figures. Brigadiers, he surmised.

"It looks like help may have already arrived." he said. She glanced at him, and then walked up to match his height on the incline.

"Brigs..." she said.

"Yeah."

"I still have some energy left. I can probably take them out if I focus my powers."

"Get a little higher sister, I think there's a Guardian with them." Moving up another foot, she saw the fourth figure standing in the clearing. "I don't think you're ready to—"

"But what else do we have?"

He reached behind his back, gripping the boomerang. "I could take out the brigs by myself, but that bald person seems like they might be strong."

"I-I can do it." she insisted. "Remember what I did on Babylonia?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone within a mile saw it. But you said you weren't up to something like that."

"I know, but if I'm anything like mom..." she said. They both went silent as they remembered for a moment the show of power their mother had put on when she took out an entire squadron before sending them away.

"I don't think so Lena. At least not yet...but there's something else."

The opportunity wasn't likely to come again, he realized.

"What is it?"

"We don't know where their ship is."

"So?"

"We searched the entire bloc, Lena. If it was parked here we would have seen it. She must come from one of the blocs nearby that we couldn't get to." he said. Her eyes widened as she realized where he was going.

"If we take them out, we'll never find it, and then we really _will _have nothing." Mahad continued.

"And she's probably not alone..." Lena added.

"I doubt there would be anymore with them if they're just looking for us."

"So what do we do then?" she asked him. It took him a few moments, but he eventually mustered the will for what he had to say.

"We...surrender ourselves."

"_What?_"

"It's the only way to get to her ship. Then...we can take it." he said slowly. Lena stared at him, incredulous but her doubt was fading, that much he could tell. He didn't think she was ready to kill someone, even if it was a Guardian, as it would have been inevitable if they had fought. The Sphere was relentless, their tools even more so.

_ One of the four brigadiers standing by the crash site approached the woman standing impatiently a short distance away."The patrol ship is empty." it said mechanically. _

_ "Search the surroundings, they couldn't have gone far." the bald woman ordered. _

"We're right here." Mahad said gravely before the brig could acknowledge the command. He had wanted to sound braver. His sister remained silent at his side. The woman turn around sharply, revealing a poignant red tattoo over her left eye.

"Oh? What have we here?"

"Your orders?" the brig said behind her. Its query had appeared without using the search function and by its programming wouldn't continue until orders were clarified.

"Call off the search." she told it without turning around. "Our prey has come to us." Lena winced slightly at the woman's choice of words, but made a point of not showing it. Instead she simply glared at the Guardian.

"I appreciate that you saved us the trouble of searching for you." she told them, and without missing a beat added "Brigs, restrain them."

The brig behind her and the one on the farthest left immediately locked their single ocular lens on the siblings. With a faint whir both began walking stiffly towards their targets. Instinctively Mahad began raising an arm in front of Lena as if it might be able to shield her from them.

"There's no point in running now children." the woman said, a small smirk twisting her mouth. "Don't worry, you will be taken care of so long as you don't cause too much trouble for us."

Somehow, they doubted her sincerity.

"Turn around." the two brigs said simultaneously. The pair complied hesitantly as their wrists were tied behind their backs with black wire.

Once they were facing the woman again, she nodded to one of the remaining two brigs. For a few seconds there was a strange absence of movement as both parties stilled. Then, the rumbling whir of a ship thruster grew until they saw another patroller rising from below the bloc to the right of the group.

The thrusters under in the wings were taller, mirroring the shape of the main body of the ship. The small adjustment made the ship much more intimidating, almost as if it were multiple ships in one.

"It wasn't even on a bloc..." Lena whispered. The Guardian raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't acknowledge the comment.

"Just wait for it..." Mahad said, speaking more quietly than Lena had.

The ship turned away from them, and then gradually reversed onto the block, blowing what little dust there was aside. A small ramp extended out before the rear door slid open.

"Children first." she told them snidely. He eyed her suspiciously as the brigs walked them towards the patroller. The woman let the brigs file behind them before following herself.

"Anytime, sis..."

"I'm trying my best."

"Well we have a few more seconds until there's _no _light for you to work with so hurry up!" he said more harshly than intended his voice taking a raspy quality as he tried to emphasis his concern while maintaining his low volume.

"Hold it." The Guardian ordered. The brigs halted immediately, but the siblings both took an extra step before the command sunk in. They kept their backs to the woman, unwilling to compromise their position further.

"The girl's a seijin." the woman said slowly. "How convenient that neither of you mentioned it before...I almost didn't notice." Had she heard his comment, or sensed his sister's powers? Details on how seijin powers worked were scarce outside of certain circles. Pilot school had made it clear that they didn't need to know more than that they were powered by sunlight, and should you discover an unaffiliated seijin, you were required to report them immediately. Common knowledge gave him a little more to work with, but the nuances were still obscured by the censorship.

They could hear the woman marching towards them.

"Lena!" he rasped under this breath.

"Bring the boy onto the ship. I'll take care of the girl." She didn't need to explain herself to the brigadiers.

"Don't touch my sister you bald freak!" he growled, dropping the pretence of remaining quiet. He turned violently, sticking a leg out to trip the brig closest to him only to be grabbed by another. Lena remained where she was. Her eyes were closed tightly as she tried to scrounge up what energy she had left. It seemed to take most of her will not to release herself immediately as her mouth formed an angry line.

"Tsk, what did I say about causing trouble? Now I'm going to have to hurt you." she said smugly. She was visibly more satisfied now that she had an excuse to exercise more violent measures.

"No you're not!" Lena yelled, tearing her wrists apart as light exploded from her forearms, radiating as single wide blast. The shockwave was larger than she had intended, knocking not only the Guardian and the brigs but her brother several feet away. The brigs sizzled with blue energy around their joints and collapsed to their knees with a thud against the soft clay.

Although more potent than expected, it did manage to disintegrate her brother's restraints; he was clenching his stomach with one hand as he stood up. The Guardian, however, did not seem to be as hurt by the blast and was on her feet within moments of being knocked back.

"Impressive, for someone so young." the woman said with an unsettling sereneness as she began her approach anew, albeit more slowly. "But you look tired, child."

It was unnerving how the woman was able to read her seijin strength so easily. The glare Lena had put on did nothing to hide the drained feeling from the woman. Was it that obvious?

She was standing almost immediately in front of the girl now. The woman looked down on the girl, maintaining a rigid posture with her hands folded behind her back. Lena refused to look up at her.

"You have power but no technique and therefore little control. We'll help you with that."

"Lieutenant Diwan—" one of the brigs on the ground began. It was flailing helplessly in a vain attempt to stand itself up. Its legs seemed unresponsive as the torso twisted back and forth.

"Quiet!" the woman, Diwan said harshly. A person may have flinched at the tone. In turning to glance at the brig the Guardian seemed to notice something. Her eyes remained creased as she scrutinized the scene around them briefly.

"Where is the boy?"

"The brigadier stationed on the ship is unresponsive." Both females turned their heads toward the ship. Both turrets glowed a threatening near-white blue and released. Heavy sand spurted upward at their feet, knocking both parties stumbling backwards before another shot landed near Diwan.

Her insecurity forgotten, Lena wasted no time in running towards the ship. Another beam fired over her head. It ended in a small, pained yell from the woman behind her. The one after that elicited no such response—instead she could hear a growl beginning to emanate from her opponent.

Glancing over her shoulder, she could see the woman clutching the energy fired from the ship in one hand as the other wrapped around her torso.

"You'll pay for that, brat!" she yelled as she redirected the energy back at the ship. The Guardian absorbed the recoil, knees bending but not falling.

The ship narrowly avoided the shot as it began moving along the block, away from the pair. For the briefest moment Lena's heart sank. How was she supposed to get on if he kept moving the ship? She watched as it began to circle around, and as it approached the far side behind Diwan she realized what he was intending.

Fearing the worst, she ran past the Guardian, ducking behind her as she did so and hoped her timing would be good enough.

"Come_ back _here!" Diwan bellowed behind her.

The ship was a few feet away from the edge of the block as she reached the top of the hill surrounding the plateau. She jumped without stopping her run.

As her feet left the block, there was an instant where the ship was too fast. In a gross underestimation of speed, her hands were too slow, her legs helpless without a solid surface. She thought she saw a small chunk of block below and she imagined being pressed against it as the ship flew on without her.

Her hands grip the end of the wing just as it began speeding away.

The turn was not gentle as the vessel realigned itself. She screamed as her fingers scraped the surface of the metal. Her legs, dangling helplessly threatened to pull her off the ship as she felt her torso shift with the change in direction. She could feel the heat through her boots neared the propulsion of thruster.

"_Mahad!_" she shrieked knowing full well that he most likely couldn't hear her. The woman's yelling barely made a scratching sound over the wind and propulsion. Vengeful streaks of blue energy followed behind them. None of the shots the Guardian fired were able to even graze the ship or Lena.

As the firing ceased, the ship slowed towards a bloc fragment just large enough to park the ship against it. Lena let go as soon as she found herself over a small patch of grass. The craft reversed onto the block. As it turned out, the rear hatch had never been closed.

"I nearly _died_!" she cried as the lift to the holding compartment levelled. Mahad hadn't left the main cabin, but quickly adjusted himself as he heard her approach the door.

"Well you were supposed to wait until we were _both _inside the ship before blasting everyone away from it!"

"And whose fault was that?" she said, trying to scold him. Instead she found herself nearly blubbering as the force behind her words fell to a slightly quivering lip. She just managed to still it after a breath.

"I, well...yeah." he admitted. He finally got up from his seat, and facing her he stopped almost immediately.

The front of her boots had been singed brown. It might have looked like a chemical stain if he didn't know the real source of the burn. Her normally carefully banded strands of hair that framed her face fell about loosely. The skin on the underside of her arms had been streaked red. It ran up past her elbows and he could feel the sting as red seethed against the rest of her skin. There was crimson lining the creases of her hands. But worst of all he could see that she had been more frightened than she had been of anything else they had dealt with in the past few hours, even the crash.

Whether she realized it or not tears marred her face as his expression softened. He reached forward, gently placing his hands on either side of her head.

"Oh Lena, I'm so sorry I-"

"It's alright..." she said softly. He pulled her into a hug.

"No, its not. You got hurt because I couldn't keep my mouth shut." he told her. She didn't resist the embrace, even as the straps crossing his chest grazed her sore skin uncomfortably. "_Dammit..._" he muttered.

Lena spoke after a while. "You were doing the best with that you had."

"Yeah..." he said.

"If anyone is to blame, it's that Guardian."

"Or those pirates..."

"Mahad..." she said. He was gripping her more tightly than before.

"I still can't believe they thought you were a Guardian. A bloody twelve-year old girl..." Lena winced slighty."They're starting to look the same to me at this point. Trigger-happy idiots."

A/n: I think I have a better idea of where I might go with this. It's mostly likely going to be a series of mini-adventures tied together by a larger story like the show, but with continuity. Who knows, maybe they'll even run into the pirates again...but not until after they've stumbled around for a good while. ;)

Inventory check:

-Two crying children

-One stolen high(er?)-class patroller

-A trusty boomarang

The kids are off to a great start! :P Reviews are welcomed and appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

**In case you aren't following Clarity, school's in session which means I need to be hitting the books. _Violently._ But in all seriousness, while a new semester wouldn't stop some writers, I have to give myself space to focus. Especially since some of my courses are a bit different from what I'm used to. Anyways...here's what I've managed to come up with in between studying.**

Mahad hadn't been eager to return to the controls after he had eventually let go. He was upset, both at their situation and his actions, but mostly at himself in that moment. Lena had gently nudged him back to the cabin of the ship. She wasn't really upset with him, at least not right then. She was far too exhausted from the recent turn of events, her emotions finally calming as her shaking slowed.

The casual reminder of the Guardian on their tail had served her intentions more than Lena realized. Diwan was stranded, but for how long they couldn't be sure. The only certainty with the woman is that she would be after them as soon as she was able.

Which, while the thought had gotten him back to the pilot's seat, had also changed the topic of his brooding back to their circumstances. While they were concerning, and indeed not much better than before, mulling over it angrily was doing him no favours. She could hear his thoughts rumbling through his mouth occasionally as he steered them in a direction he had deemed worthwhile.

She didn't feel like arguing, or even asking why he had picked the particular inclination. He wouldn't fly them back into Sphere territory if he could help it. It didn't leave them many options, but he wasn't so pensive that he would take them back into danger. She could tell that he was flying more to distract himself, and anywhere away from the people chasing them was good enough for her.

Unable to sooth him, she had turned her attention back to herself, and in doing so realized how famished she was. She mentioned something about going to look for food, to which he had said something about finding something for him as well. He had tried to sound casual, but the rarity of any sombreness with him made his current state especially poignant, puncturing the undertone of his words. She tried her best to shrug it off, but they would inevitably have to address the broader aspects of their situation.

As it turned out, there was some food stored in a compartment in the floor of the ship. It made sense, considering how long a Guardian might have to spend in the ship. She couldn't imagined being cooped up in such a tight space for any extended period, especially alone. The dim fluorescent lights of the holding compartment diffused gently over her, casting a hazy shadow over the opening in the floor beneath her. Briefly, the thought of how they must sleep on the benches lining in the holding area struck her but the idea was quickly perished as a small metal container fell apart in her hands.

She blinked as what she had assumed were seal lines neatly _clicked _as they separated, the circular emblem sliding apart as it unlocked the other pieces. It had only been in her hands for a few seconds before it activated itself. Barely long enough to even realize she had wanted it open between her other thoughts.

The contents were shaped like the container; a soft looking, beige block precisely cut into a rectangular prism. It shivered as she lifted it up for inspection. The substance gleamed across its surface as she brought it into the light. The gooey, wet surface made her thankful the bottom of the container had remained in place.

The slimy texture certainly made the item unappetizing, assuming it _was _meant to be eaten. Food had always been a dry thing for them, liquid being reserved for drinking or for the farm usually. Having something so...amorphous and _wet _for eating was hard to imagine.

That said, she couldn't imagine what _else _it could be for. The compartment was entirely filled with similarly sized boxes which were lined orderly. While the material certainly they contained was strange, its apparent consistency as it _wiggled _made it inadequate for much else.

She made a cautionary movement to take a bite, immediately drawing her teeth back with a tight clench before it touched her lips. The thing shook profusely in her hands as she cringed. A few more attempts finally brought it into her mouth, and as it was...

...it wasn't as bad as she thought. It was surprisingly smooth, and its apparent wetness not actually so. It was more glassy than slimy. And also tasteless, as it happened. The best comparison she could draw was a hard-boiled egg, which she had only eaten a few times in her life. After a few bites, she grabbed another and turned back toward the main cabin.

"Catch." she said as she tossed him the unopened container. Apparently he wasn't so pensive as to not notice it and managed to catch it in time.

"Hey, I'm flying here..." he said, annoyed.

"Set it to auto-pilot. We should eat something."

He glanced at the metal box and then back to the skyline. "Alright." he eventually relented.

"It's not as bad as it looks." she told him and took another bite. He twisted his mouth a little in disgust. "It doesn't really taste like anything."

"That's almost as bad as it being gross..." he said. She smiled a little at that. "How do you open this thing anyway?"

"It should just open on its own."

"Really? 'cause it won't budge for me." he said as he tried to pull it apart. His knuckles grew whiter with each small attempt.

"Here, let me do it then."

After a few more unsuccessful tries he tossed it back to her. Sure enough, after a few moments it began to unlock itself.

"...you didn't use your powers, did you?" he asked, bemused.

"No, you know I don't have any left. I wouldn't even begin to know how to use them on something like this without breaking it anyway."

"Weird." he said reaching out for the box before it even finished unpacking itself. She raised an eyebrow and waited until it was finished before giving it to him.

"Its worse than I imagined..." he said, grimacing as he took his first bite.

"Oh, suck it up you big baby. This is all we have." he had no retort as he tried to swallow the food.

"You didn't happen to find any water while you were back there, did you?"

"No, but the compartment these were in was pretty hard to find. It looked like another floor panel."

"Any chance you could keep looking?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But what?"

"I was actually wondering where we were headed." she said nervously.

"Well I didn't have anything in mind just yet. I've kinda just been flying to get away from that crazy Guardian." he admitted. She didn't bother scolding him, she knew he had been upset as she was. "I was thinking since Sphere territory is obviously a no-go and I wouldn't even begin to know how to get to a free block from here, as much as I'd like to give them a piece of my mind...well we'd just go to a neutral block and hope for the best."

"That seems a little risky."

"But its either that or..."

"You're right. But there's one other problem." She almost laughed a little, having to be the one to point out the same fact yet again. "We're in a Sphere patroller. A _higher _tier one at that. We'll be instantly suspicious."

"And probably reported as soon as we landed, yeah." he rolled his head, trying to drum up something as he stared across the clouds in front of them.

"We can either try to steal another ship...or park this one where no one will see it."

"I don't think we can pull the same stunt twice...and I'd feel bad."

"Yeah I was just thinking about how I'd go about finding a hiding place for this. The truth is, I won't be able to tell until we get there."

"Then don't worry about it. I'll go look for some water." she said with a little cheer seeping into her voice.

"You know, if this is what those Guardians have to eat day in and day out its no wonder they're so miserable all the time..." he said as she stood up and left the cabin again. The water would probably be stored more upright, she thought as she made a note to check the walls.

She was positively _peeved _at the disabled brigs lying around her, and even more furious at herself for letting two children get the best of her. To think that those two frightened children might have been stupid enough to try something like that. She supposed she couldn't really call them dumb for it, seeing as it had actually _worked. _She dug her heel into the ground instead of stomping again. It would do her no good to lose her composure here, and quite frankly she have been embarrassed if anyone had seen her acting so childishly.

This was setback that could be overcome. She hadn't failed the mission yet. The injuries from the ship were minor burns—she had endured far worse before her career had even begun. Worse was the blow to her pride as a Guardian, but the only solution to that was to dive back to the task at hand with more concentration. The real sting was yet to come.

For the first time in a long time, she would have to admit to serious error in judgement that not only pushed her farther away from her goal but actually put her in need of _help_. She hadn't needed to request assistance like this since one of her early missions.

"_Diwan...come in, have you captured the children?_" a voice growled over the radio at her hip. She would have preferred to initiate this particular conversation, but there was no going back now.

"No sir...they managed to escape."

"_**What? **__You let a couple of children get away from you?" _Somehow he managed an even angrier growl.

"Yes, they were shot down by pirates—"

"_I don't need excuses, Diwan." _He was right. But, she realized, she had the beginnings of something different here. They were shot down, and then...

"-and subsequently rescued by them."

"_You expect me to believe they picked up the occupants of a Sphere patroller on a __**whim**__?"_

"I don't pretend to know the inner-workings of the minds of those pirates, sir, but I imagine they'd be naive enough to feel sympathetic to a lone patroller they crashed."

_"Or take them for questioning, as is far more likely."_

"Yes, sir. I would also like to request a ship be sent to my location. Mine was damaged beyond immediate repair as well." She didn't want to spend anymore time than necessary drawing out the story. Her commander was no fool, and sounded like he was on the verge of finding another hole in her report. There were a few tense moments of radio silence before it crackled out another message.

"_Very well. Expect another patroller to your location shortly. Don't fail me Diwan." _he said more calmly before the connection clicked off. She gradually let out a sigh of relief as it went dead.

She glanced back over to the damaged patroller. It would be obvious to anyone that it wasn't a ship of someone of her rank, but she expected that the replacement would only be occupied by unobservant brigadiers.

Fortunately the uniqueness of her ship class made it easy for her to track. She doubted they would think of, or even be able to disable its signal. Being familiar with its capabilities, and its limitations while considering the fuel it had left...even they weren't dumb enough to head back into Sphere territory. Which left only a few places they could reach before they would be forced to land.

At the point their trail would be much easier to follow. Two stray children who clearly hadn't been orphaned were very noticeable. Especially when they're using an obviously stolen Sphere ship. Someone would see them, and there would certainly be someone else asking questions.

"I found some water Mahad. It was actually in another compartment right beside the other one, but I was looking all over for it..." she said as the door to the cabin slipped open.

"Figures. If there's one thing they do right with these ships its making it compact."

"I can't imagine being stuck in one of these things all the time."

"Eh, it suits them. They're so uptight that they'd probably freak out if they had too much space to think." he commented.

"So did you figure out where we're going?" Lena asked sitting down on the floor behind him. The downside of the higher tier ship was that it emphasized single occupancy. There was only one seat in the cabin.

"Well we only have a few options. From here with what we've got we can either go to Ningxia or one of a couple other neutral blocks based on this map. I think one of them is Valisk, which I've heard some things about but..."

"Ningxia!" she said, surprisingly enthused. "I'd never thought I'd ever get to see it..."

"Well we won't be doing much sight-seeing sister. We're going to need to lay low. Its big, and there's no telling how much influence the Sphere has on it."

"But that also means its a hub, right? We can definitely find whatever we're looking for there."

"Yeah but Valisk probably has as much to offer while being way smaller."

"Buuuut it's also sketchy, isn't it?" She could hear the hesitation in his voice.

"Just a little. But it'd be easier to keep out from under the Sphere there. That's what most people who go there are probably trying to do anyway."

"So..."

"Honestly I have no idea which is the better option. But we need to make a decision soon. I don't want to stay on this path for much longer."

"Then I guess..." It was her turn to roll her head slightly as she considered their options.

On one hand, the prospect of going to Ningxia was exciting. She had always wanted to see what was left of old-Earth cultures. Her life often felt bland and disconnected. Her own heritage had been obscured by the chaos left behind after the break-up. Whatever it had been, it hadn't been strong enough, or maybe big enough to stay together after ward.

Really, it wasn't that relevant to their lives as long as the Sphere ruled with its dictatorship. And with the constant dire need for water they imposed through heavy taxes there was little room for old tradition. Time with family was ineffable in the toil of their lives. New, familial customs were growing, the old world practically a mystery to their generation...which made it all the more curious to a young girl.

Valisk was intimidating. It was more than a 'a little' unscrupulous as her brother tried to suggest, she was sure. Sometimes he didn't really think things through.

"Ningxia." she said, trying to sound more calm than she was. He eyed her suspiciously briefly at her suggestion. "You said so yourself, Valisk is sketchy. We don't want any more trouble than we already have."

"Alright, to Ningxia we go." The ship, under her brother's guidance gently turned eastward as it ascended over a large block fragment.

**Not the most interesting chapter, but now we have the setting for our first mini-adventure. Which I still need to smooth over some of the details of. Most of my ideas are for later stories, but they need to **_**get **_**to that point a little more world-weary than they are now.**

**I swear I'm not going to just mirror the show...but you have to admit Ningxia was a sorely underused setting. The visual detail hat went into it...The Great Wall should have been a multiple episode arc. But it was just one unexplored cultural remnant in a show sorely lacking any continuity. #rant over**

**It goes without saying that reviews are always appreciated : )  
><strong>


End file.
